This quarterly article supplements information presented in the publication, Retail Trade, Australia(cat. no. 8501.0). It presents information about the net proceeds received from licensed gambling activities undertaken by businesses classified to 'Hotels and licensed clubs'. Gambling revenue from Casinos, Lotteries or Gambling Services n.e.c. are not included as they are not in the scope of the Retail Trade survey. Commissions from Lotto and lottery tickets sold in the Newspaper, Book and Stationery retailing industry are also excluded as they are not separately reported in the survey.

Businesses in the 'Hotels and licensed clubs' industry included in the Retail Trade Survey are asked to report three turnover components which sum to total turnover. The three components of turnover reported are:

Membership fees and subscriptions received

Net proceeds received from licensed gambling activities (hereafter called Gambling)

General turnover (e.g. takings from bar and bottle shop sales, meals and accommodation and hiring and booking fees).

Gambling net proceeds in Hotels and Licensed clubs includes:

commission from TAB and Keno transactions

net takings from Bingo

net revenue received from poker machines and other electronic gaming machines. Net revenue means the amount remaining after payouts and government gambling taxes are removed or commission earned.

The three components of turnover have primarily been used to assist Hotels and Licensed Clubs to correctly report total turnover. As such, they are not subject to the same level of scrutiny as the estimates of total turnover.

This gambling article is released quarterly on the ABS Web Site about a week after the release of the March, June, September and December issues of Retail Trade, Australia.

INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.

SUMMARY COMMENTARY

FINDINGS

Table 1 shows that gambling increased as a proportion of turnover for both Hotels and licensed clubs and Total retail in the period between March quarter 2004 to March quarter 2006. Since March quarter 2005, there has been little change in gambling as a percentage of Total Retail turnover and of Hotels and licensed clubs turnover.

1. GAMBLING AS A PROPORTION OF HOTELS AND LICENSED CLUBS AND TOTAL RETAIL, AUSTRALIA, Seasonally Adjusted

Hotels and licensed clubs

Total retail

Quarter

%

%

2004

March

36.3

3.2

June

36.8

3.3

September

37.5

3.3

December

38.1

3.4

2005

March

40.5

3.6

June

40.3

3.7

September

38.8

3.6

December

39.9

3.7

2006

March

38.6

3.6

Graph 2 compares the growth rates of Gambling, Total retail and Total retail adjusted to exclude gambling. This shows that Total retail and Total retail excluding gambling generally grow at a similar rate. This reflects the low contribution of gambling to Total retail indicated in Table 1.

2. PERCENTAGE CHANGE IN QUARTERLY TURNOVER, Seasonally Adjusted

It can be seen from Table 3 that, for each quarter, the rate of growth can vary between the Gambling, Hotels and licensed clubs and Total retail series. In the March quarter 2006, net proceeds from gambling in Hotels and licensed clubs was $1,889.9 million. Over the period from March quarter 2005 to March quarter 2006, the Total retail series grew by 4.8%, Hotels and licensed clubs grew by 10.9% and Gambling grew by 5.7%.

3. GAMBLING IN RETAIL TRADE, AUSTRALIA, SEASONALLY ADJUSTED

Gambling

Hotels and licensed clubs

Total Retail

Net proceeds

Percentage change

Turnover

Percentage change

Turnover

Percentage change

Quarter

$m

%

$m

%

$m

%

2004

March

1 568.1

-0.2

4 323.9

0.5

49 008.9

1.8

June

1 606.2

2.4

4 367.1

1.0

49 414.4

0.8

September

1 626.8

1.3

4 343.5

-0.5

50 040.2

1.3

December

1 694.2

4.1

4 446.9

2.4

50 238.6

0.4

2005

March

1 788.5

5.6

4 417.3

-0.7

50 100.9

-0.3

June

1 879.7

5.1

4 660.3

5.5

50 872.4

1.5

September

1 839.6

-2.1

4 735.8

1.6

51 549.7

1.3

December

1 926.8

4.7

4 824.8

1.9

51 902.3

0.7

2006

March

1 889.9

-1.9

4 896.8

1.5

52 517.3

1.2

From Table 4 it can be seen that in March quarter 2006, gambling as a proportion of state turnover is highest in New South Wales and Queensland and lowest in Western Australia and Tasmania. This needs to be considered in the context of the varying state restrictions on gaming machines. The low contribution of net proceeds from gambling in Western Australia reflects poker machines in that state being restricted only to casinos; and Hotels and licensed clubs in Victoria and Tasmania only receiving a commission or venue share for poker machines located on their premises.

4. CONTRIBUTION OF GAMBLING TO TOTAL TURNOVER, BY STATE, SEASONALLY ADJUSTED

New South Wales

Victoria

Queensland

South Australia

Western Australia

Tasmania

Northern Territory

Australian Capital Territory

Quarter

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

2004

March

6.1

1.3

2.5

3.3

0.0

0.5

1.4

2.8

June

6.3

1.3

2.5

3.3

0.0

0.4

1.1

2.8

September

6.4

1.2

2.3

3.1

0.0

0.4

1.1

2.9

December

6.7

1.5

2.4

2.9

0.0

0.5

1.0

2.6

2005

March

7.1

1.6

2.6

2.9

0.0

0.4

0.6

2.6

June

7.2

1.8

3.0

2.9

0.0

0.5

1.0

2.8

September

6.8

1.8

3.0

2.7

0.0

0.4

1.2

2.9

December

7.0

1.7

3.3

2.9

0.0

0.5

1.4

3.1

2006

March

6.6

1.6

3.6

3.0

0.0

0.5

1.2

3.1

SAMPLING ERRORS

Standard errors for the level estimate for Australia (original data) are shown below. The estimated relative standard errors (RSE) for the states vary. The only states where gambling estimates have an RSE below 10% are New South Wales, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory. Estimates for the other states have an RSE between 10% and 25% and should be used with caution. The standard error associated with the seasonally adjusted series is approximately the same as for the original estimates.

5. STANDARD ERRORS

Estimate

Standard error

Relative Standard error

Data series

$m

$m

%

Net proceeds from gambling

March quarter 2006

1 790.0

66.9

3.7

FURTHER INFORMATION

For further information about these and related statistics, contact Graham Phillips on (02) 6252 5625.

RELATED INFORMATION

The ABS produces a more comprehensive range of data on gambling via its service industries program. Detailed surveys of the Pubs, taverns and bars industry; Clubs industry and Casino industry are usually conducted every three years.